Abstract: In order to study the space-time evolution of cemented backfill under applied load, WAW-300 micro electromechanical servo universal test system and DS2 series full information acoustic emission monitoring system were used to monitor the stress, strain variation and acoustic emission activity of cemented backfill specimen during uniaxial compression. According to the stage characteristics of ringing count rate and energy rate, the variation law of acoustic emission parameters during loading the acoustic emission variation is divided into three stages: rising period, calm period and active period, and the space-time evolution law of acoustic emission parameters was further studied. The cemented backfill fracture was predicted using the ringing count rate and energy rate parameters, combined with cusp catastrophe theory. The research shows that: 1) under uniaxial compression, the cemented backfill is ductile failure, and the crack penetration is shear penetration; 2) during the loading process, the cemented backfill evolves from local failure to overall instability; 3) the point mutation theory is used to predict the fracture of cemented backfill, and the fracture prediction model is proposed. The prediction results are consistent with the experimental results. The research results can provide a basis for the stability monitoring and fracture prediction of artificial pillars.

Key words: cemented backfill, acoustic emission, space-time evolution, fracture prediction